Geffner

Naked City was a ground breaking police detective tv series that aired from 1958-63. It was filmed on location on the streets of New York City. I remember watching some of those episodes as a child growing up on the outskirts of the city in Little Neck, Queens. Recently, as I watched some Naked City episodes on DVD, a flood of buried memories burst out of the recesses of my mind. A nostalgia tinged with more than its share of the sadness that is intrinsically part of the bitter-sweetness that is nostalgia. My troubled childhood did have moments of joy, moments of connectedness to my parents and sister amidst the more pervasive feelings of sadness and alienation. Moments of hope. I remember feeling as I watched Naked City as a child that the show presents an experience of life that mirrored my own. Though I didn't have the words to express it then, I would describe it now as a dark, melancholy noir-like world of forlorn people struggling to escape from being trapped. Whether trap

As you may know, Fiverr.com is a place where anyone can offer to do (nearly) anything for a fee of five dollars. Each offer is called a "gig". This could potentially be a lucrative endeavor for someone who has a gig to offer that many people want, and that is very quick and easy to fulfill via upload. I searched "ventriloquist" on the site recently and apparently there were only one and a half ventriloquists who were offering gigs. I say "one and a half" because...judging by the gig intro videos that sellers can post...there was one legitimate ventriloquist and one lady who called herself a ventriloquist although she didn't seem to have the slightest ability to do ventriloquism. After sellers on Fiverr have sold a certain number of gigs they are then allowed to offer "extras", which are add-on elements to their gigs for which they can charge added fees. This could potentially turn a Fiverr gig that is not worth doing into one that is much

One of the more unusual performance experiences in my career occurred during the recent Jewish holiday of Sukkot. I was asked by Chabad - the outreaching Hasidic sect - to  perform a ventriloquist show during the annual Sukkot celebration that Chabad brings to Jewish inmates at the famed prison on Rikers Island, NY. This was a return engagement, actually, as they had asked me to do this same gig two years ago. I knew what to expect at this, my second Rikers Island performance...or I thought I did... Two years ago, having never been inside a prison, I was a bit nervous in anticipation of my prison debut. After security checks that lasted more than an hour, I finally was allowed to enter a gym together with about a dozen Chabad members who proceeded to set up for the party. A small band, also brought in by Chabad, set up and began blaring Hasidic rock. A small group of about a dozen inmates gradually entered the gym and took seats at round tables spaced widely apart on the gym floor. T